7-Day Secrets of the Qinling: Xi'an, Ankang & Shangluo

Morning — Arrival at Xi'an Xianyang International Airport
Your guide and driver meet you in the arrivals hall with a name sign and take you by private vehicle to your hotel in the city centre. The early arrival means the whole day is still ahead of you, but a long-haul flight deserves some rest first.

Afternoon — Check-in and Rest
Settle into your 4- or 5-star hotel and recover from the journey. Your guide confirms the programme for the coming days and is on hand for anything you need.

Evening — The Muslim Quarter
Dinner is in the Muslim Quarter, a grid of lanes where Hui families have sold food since the Tang dynasty: hand-pulled biangbiang noodles, cumin lamb skewers, roujiamo and sweet persimmon cakes. Afterwards walk to the Bell and Drum Tower square, where the two Ming towers are floodlit against the modern city.

Meals
Breakfast, Dinner included.

Morning — The Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum
Drive east to Lintong and stand at the edge of Pit 1, where more than six thousand life-sized soldiers face east in battle formation. Each face is different; the bronze weapons were still sharp when they came out of the ground. Your guide walks you through Pits 1, 2 and 3 and the Bronze Chariot hall, and explains how a workforce of artisans produced an army on an industrial scale in the third century BC.

Afternoon — Huaqing Palace
Continue to Huaqing Palace at the foot of Mount Li, where Emperor Xuanzong built thermal baths and pavilions for his consort Yang Guifei. The same courtyards later became the setting for the 1936 Xi'an Incident, so the site carries both the most famous love story and one of the decisive political moments of modern China.

Evening — The Grand Tang Mall
After dark, walk the Grand Tang Mall, a 2.1-kilometre pedestrian avenue of Tang-style architecture, light installations and street performance that recreates the night market of Chang'an at the height of the dynasty.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included.

Morning — South into the Qinling
After breakfast, board the coach and head south into the Qinling mountains along the Heishui valley corridor. The road climbs steadily, threading tunnels and ridges as the landscape changes.

Afternoon — Cruise on Ying Lake
Board a scenic cruise on Ying Lake, the crown jewel of southern Shaanxi: more than 77 square kilometres of water dotted with over two hundred islands.

Evening — Ankang
Check into your Ankang hotel and dine at a local institution on Ankang steamed noodles — thin, hand-pulled, in a tangy house-fermented broth.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included.

Morning — Climb to the Base
After an early breakfast, coach to the base of Tianzhu Mountain in Shanyang county, about two hours. It is the highest peak in the southeastern Qinling, rising to 1,880 metres.

Afternoon — The Summit
Take the cable car up — a ten-minute ride that lifts you above the tree line into open sky. The summit is a compact wonderland of sharp granite peaks and rock formations sculpted over millennia. Descend and continue to Shangluo, about 1.5 hours.

Evening — Shangluo
Check in for two nights in Shangluo, a small, walkable city in a river valley known for clean air, medicinal herbs and mountain produce.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included.

Morning — Dihua Ancient Town
A short ride brings you to Dihua Ancient Town, one of the best-preserved historic towns in Shaanxi. Founded in the Song dynasty as a commercial hub on the border between Song and Jin territory, it still reads as a market town.

Afternoon — The Qinling Museum
Coach to the Qinling Museum, a natural history and ecological centre devoted to the range that literally divides China in half. Interactive exhibits explain how the Qinling acts as a climate boundary and why its biodiversity matters.

Evening — Mountain Cooking
Return to your Shangluo hotel and dine on mountain forest cooking: wild herbs, fresh walnuts, lotus root and mushrooms foraged from the Qinling.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included.

Morning — The Return Journey
After breakfast, board the coach for the return to Xi'an — about two hours and 140 kilometres, following the Dan river valley north as the Qinling foothills give way to the plain.

Afternoon — The City Wall
Walk Xi'an's ancient city wall, the world's best-preserved and largest ancient military defence system, built in the Ming on Tang foundations.

Evening — Farewell Dinner
A farewell dinner of Shaanxi's finest dishes, toasting new friendships and a journey through the heartland.

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner included.

Morning — The Xi'an Museum
A last museum morning: the Xi'an Museum's galleries run from Zhou bronzes to Tang figurines around the courtyard of the Jianfu Temple and its Small Wild Goose Pagoda. It is the single best room in which to review everything the week has shown you.

Afternoon — Last Shopping
Time for cured beef, date cake, calligraphy paper and paper-cuts. Your guide knows which shops the city's own families buy from.

Evening — Departure
Your private vehicle takes you to Xi'an Xianyang International Airport for the flight home.

Meals
Breakfast included.